The foundation of Art in Embassies (AIE), a U.S. Department of State program, began with an International Council established by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1953 to exhibit American works of art in U.S. embassies. Building on these efforts and recognizing the importance of art in international cultural outreach, an AIE office was created by the John F. Kennedy administration in 1963. Since then, AIE has grown and continues its mission to promote cultural diplomacy through art by way of artist exchanges and programs exhibiting a diverse group of American artists as well as international artists and artists from the host countries.
The Exhibition
“The United States and Mexico: A Powerful Past, A Shared Future” exhibition at the ambassador’s residence in Mexico City is a visual narrative that explores the longstanding relationship between the United States and Mexico — a shared history of struggle and hope. Mission Mexico and volunteers worked closely with Art in Embassies, Dr. Gilberto Cárdenas, Colección y Archivo de Fundación Televisa, Colección FEMSA, Mexic-Arte Museum, Talley Dunn Gallery, Galerie Myrtis, and Dr. Isaac Masri to curate an exhibition that represents the fight for civil and human rights, Indigenous representation, and visions for the future.
Art in Embassies (AIE) creates vital cross-cultural dialogue and fosters mutual understanding through the visual arts and dynamic artist exchanges. The Museum of Modern Art first initiated exhibitions of contemporary art for U.S. embassy residencies in 1953, and President John F. Kennedy established the program as an official office at the U.S. Department of State in 1963. The office has since grown and engages more than 20,000 international participants — including artists, museums, galleries, universities, and private collectors. AIE continues its mission to advance cultural diplomacy by collaborating with a diverse group of U.S. and international artists to implement artist exchanges and exhibitions around the world.
As an exhibition, these artworks demonstrate a mutual quest for human dignity across two inextricably bound nations. There are works dedicated to the diverse Indigenous groups living in the United States and Mexico, which represent their contributions to the nation’s cultural richness. Complex stone carvings, ceramics, and sculptures to honor gods and leaders represent Mexico’s pre-colonial era. As we transition to the colonial era, the art depicts a time marked by conflict, subordination, and new beginnings. Additionally, there are modern works by mestizo and Mexican American artists who were inspired by Indigenous and Western art to create hybrid expressions that mirror Mexico and the U.S.’s diverse ethnic makeup.
Aside from selecting art from differing eras, it was important to include work that could speak to the shared history between our two nations. That history contains both tragedy and hope —- with conquest, war, and families separated across borders. For example, the mestizos and Indigenous people in both countries who have always struggled for rights, respect, and recognition, along with African Americans and other underrepresented peoples. Or the hundreds of thousands of soldiers with Mexican ancestry who enlisted in the United States military during World War II. We want to pay homage to the political artists on both sides of the border, from the U.S. artists who worked side by side with leaders of the Chicano Movement to promote social justice, to the Taller de Gráfica Popular artists who used their prints to widely circulate revolutionary causes.
Our nations’ futures are inextricably linked and driven by change, the hopes of many generations, and the dreams of our young people. We hope that this exhibition is enjoyed by all who see it. We hope that it inspires emerging and established artists as they continue to honor their communities, families, and traditions with vibrant and exuberant expressions of creativity. May you be challenged to reconsider and rethink conventional artistic boundaries while you imagine new, sometimes playful, but always culturally conscious and wholly original works.
Ambassador Ken Salazar
Mexico City, Mexico
September 2022
Exhibit Photo Gallery






























Miguel Ángel Alamilla is a Mexican artist who specializes in poetic, non-figurative sculpture, paintings, and drawings.

Angel Cabrales views everything as an artistic resource and utilizes this in all his work given his extensive experience with a variety of mediums and styles.

Quetzalcóatl, la serpiente emplumada, apareció por primera vez en Mesoamérica y se encuentra a menudo en Teotihuacan, Tula y Tenochtitlán.

Rina Lazo, the Guatemalan Mexican painter, got her start in the 1940s as one of Diego Rivera’s assistants.

Malaquías Montoya es artista, autor y profesor. Oriundo de Albuquerque, Nuevo México, es hijo de padres inmigrantes y fue uno de siete hijos criados en California.

Malaquías Montoya is an artist, author, and professor. The Albuquerque, New Mexico native was born to migrant parents and was one of seven children raised in California.

History – Artists (part 2)
Francisco Mora Gerardo Murillo "Dr. Atl" Diego Rivera Vicente Rojo Jaime SaldivarFrancisco Mora’s father was a weaver, musician, and Mexican artist. In 1941, Mora relocated from Michoacan to Mexico City where he won a scholarship to study at La Esmeralda art school under the guidance of Diego Rivera.

Gerardo Murillo fue pintor, escritor, escritor y pionero del movimiento mexicano por el nacionalismo artístico.

Diego Rivera was trained at the National School of Fine Arts in Mexico City. He spent more than a decade in Europe, becoming a leading figure in Paris’s vibrant international community of avant-garde artists.

Born in Barcelona, Vicente Rojo was an important member of the Breakaway Generation which challenged the supremacy of Mexican muralism and became one of the influential abstract artists of the postwar period. He was a painter, graphic designer, sculptor, and publisher whose work explores the modern vision of Mexico.

Family and Dignity – Artists
Francisco Bautista José Luis Cuevas Carlos Francisco Jackson Porfirio Gutierrez Pedro Linares Carmen Lomas GarzaFrancisco Bautista, un maestro tejedor de cuarta generación, nació en el pueblo de Teotitlán del Valle en Oaxaca, México.

José Luis Cuevas fue un pintor, dibujante y escultor mexicano reconocido por sus dibujos neofigurativos a tinta y lápiz y su retrato surrealista.

Carlos Jackson was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. The visual artist and writer received his Bachelor of Science in Community and Regional Development, and Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of California, Davis.

Porfirio Gutiérrez is a California-based Zapotec textile artist and natural dyer whose life work is dedicated to revitalizing and preserving traditional natural dyeing techniques.

Pedro Linares was a cartonería (paper-mâché) artist, best known for having created mythical creatures called alebrijes.

Carmen Lomas Garza nació en Kingsville, Texas. A la edad de trece años, se comprometió a seguir una carrera en el arte y aprendió por sí misma elementos del dibujo.

Alan Pogue is an award-winning documentary photographer whose work has focused on social and political movements from Texas to the Middle East.

Alfredo Ramos Martínez spent his formative years immersed in the artistic life of Paris, returning to Mexico in 1910 on the eve of the country’s Mexican Civil War.

Tony Ortega was born in 1958 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He holds a Master of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Xavier Tavera, a Mexico City native, is a thought-provoking photographer who has made compelling portraits of people from all walks of life.

The Power of Women
Martina Adame Santa Barraza Esperanza Gama Malaquias Montoya Rick Ortega Xavier TaveraMartina Adame was born in the small village of Maxela (a Nahua community in Guerrero, Mexico).

Santa Barraza, a native of Kingsville, Texas, is a contemporary Chicana/Tejana artist. Barraza paints bold representations of Nepantla, a mythic “Land Between.”

Esperanza Gama was born and educated in Guadalajara, Mexico. She believes that a visual artist’s language merges with the everyday life where one lives.

Malaquías Montoya is an artist, author, and professor. The Albuquerque, New Mexico, native was born to migrant parents and was one of seven children raised in California.

Xavier Tavera, a Mexico City native, is a thought-provoking photographer who has made compelling portraits of people from all walks of life.

The Migrant Expirience – Artists
Jesús “Cimi” Alvarado Ana Teresa Fernández Gilbert “Magu” Luján Leopoldo Méndez Malaquías Montoya Tony OrtegaJesús “CIMI” Alvarado is a proud Chicano artist who is driven by contemporary and historic Chicanx figures.

Tampico, Mexico, native Ana Teresa Fernández studied in California and Switzerland and is known for her ability to make powerful statements.

Gilbert “Magu” Luján is one of the most iconic figures of the Chicano art movement. The California native was a sculptor, muralist, and painter.

Leopoldo Méndez was one of Mexico’s most important graphic artists and most important artists from the 20th century.

Malaquías Montoya is an artist, author, and professor. The Albuquerque, New Mexico, native was born to migrant parents and was one of seven children raised in California.

Tony Ortega was born in 1958 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He holds a Master of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The Migrant Expirience – Artists – Part 2
Frank RomeroFrank Romero grew up in the culturally mixed, middle-class Los Angeles community of Boyle Heights.

The Dreamers – Artists
David Alfaro Siqueiros César A. Martínez Maceo Montoya Arely Morales Elsa Muñoz Susana SierraDavid Alfaro Siqueiros was an outspoken Mexican painter and political activist during the first three-quarters of the twentieth century.

As a child of migrants from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, César A. Martínez was the first American-born member of his family.

Maceo Montoya was raised in a family of Chicano artists and writers. He is the son of renowned painter Malaquías Montoya, brother of poet Andrés Montoya, and nephew of the late legendary poet José Montoya.

Born in Mexico, Arely Morales moved to Texas at the age of fourteen. The experience of merging into a new culture, as well as being part of a minority group that is targeted and profiled, influenced her work on immigrant workers.

Elsa Muñoz is a Mexican American realist painter from the south side of Chicago. She was born in a neighborhood called La Villita (Little Village), a community composed of predominantly working-class Mexican immigrants.

Sierra Sierra was a Mexican feminist artist disciple of Swiss-born figurative artist Roger von Gunten in the early 1960s.
